


Never Let Go

by AlexHunt



Series: Open Heart — Ethan Ramsey x Ellie Shepherd [12]
Category: Choices - Fandom, Open Heart (Visual Novels), PlayChoices
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Near Death Experiences, Titanic References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26436940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexHunt/pseuds/AlexHunt
Summary: Notes:  This is a companion piece to my series Love & Scotch (an Open Heart/Hollywood U crossover). It takes place after my crossover fic dx: Two Words and takes place during OH2Ch11. This is a sort of rewrite of a scene from the chapter to allow for where Ethan and Ellie are in my AU.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Ellie Shepherd, Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart), Ethan Ramsey/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Open Heart — Ethan Ramsey x Ellie Shepherd [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1804708
Kudos: 3





	Never Let Go

**This follows["Two Words"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23099863/chapters/64361857), chapter 12 of my Love & Scotch series (Hollywood U/Open Heart crossover)**

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Her forehead rested against the hard plastic of the face shield on his protective suit. They had been separated by distance before—entire continents to be exact, but this, this tiny piece of clear plastic somehow seemed worse. It reminded her of all that was at stake. She could die. 

The tears in her eyes dripped on the shield. She watched the droplets drift down only further reminding her of the separation between them. 

Ethan’s arms snaked around her waist attempting to comfort her. The bulky suit made everything feel uncomfortable. Nothing felt right. His touch had the opposite of its intended effect.

She took a step back, shaking her head. “I can’t.” 

“It’s okay.” His own voice shook, everything she feared, he feared too. He couldn’t lose her, not after everything, not after finally admitting how he felt. “Close your eyes.”

“No. If I close my eyes…I might not…” 

“Just trust me. Close your eyes,” he repeated. “Focus on the sound of my voice, let my words become real and only my words.”

“I’ll try.”

“Ignore the smell. Forget the noises of the machines. Let go of all you saw. Just listen.” He moved behind her, his voice lowered to a soothing, almost dreamlike level. “I’m right here with you. Don’t think about what happened today. Think about earlier, back at my apartment. The warm rays of the morning sun caressing your delicate skin as you stood at the bedroom window with nothing but that sheet loosely wrapped around you. Your hair burned so brilliantly, sparkling in the light down your back. God, you were…are breathtaking.” 

“Who is this memory for again?” Ellie teased, leaning back into his chest, a low laugh escaping her chapped lips as she breathed.

Heat radiated in the suit as his body responded to the memory and what happened after. “Just stay there, at that moment, with the promise of a new day.”

“I remember you joining me. And then it was more like this.” Ellie reached behind, guiding his arms around her. “And, if I remember correctly you didn’t have a sheet covering anything. So, when I did this—” She leaned back into him, resting her tired head on his shoulder. She let her imaginary sheet drop, a delighted smile playing on her lips. “There was nothing separating us.”

“I remember.”

“You made me feel so safe and protected, like nothing in the world could ever get to me.”

“Ellie.” 

Her name on his lips sent a shiver prickling down her spine, reminding her how much separated them now. “I wish you could hold me.”

“I am.” 

“Not like this…. I want to feel you, to touch you, to lie on your chest and listen to how your heartbeat responds to me.”

“Soon. For now, just try to hold on to the memory.”

The brief moment of joy that had graced her face fell away as reality came into focus once more. Her eyes drew across the room to the place Bobby died, the spot Danny last stood before it was too late, and to the empty bed Raf used to occupy. One by one they left until it was only her. Fighting the symptoms was getting harder and harder, even with him by her side. 

“Look at me, Ellie. This isn’t the end.”

“You can’t know that.”

“I promise I won’t let this take you. Just keep holding on.”

“I’m trying.”

“You’re the strongest person I know. You can do this. Just hold on. Don’t let go—” He smirked thinking of a scene from one of her favorite movies, hoping it would be enough to distract her. He gestured to the tiny bed, helping her into it then crawling in beside her. “Never let go, Ellie. This door is big enough for the two of us.” 

“The door really was big enough for both of them; Jack died for nothing,” Ellie argued, a flicker of hope alighting in her eyes. Her own impending demise shifted to the back as her strong feelings for that scene bubbled to the surface. “You’ve seen the diagrams showing how two people could have easily fit!”

“What about the buoyancy problem?”

“Fine, maybe that could have been a problem, but, you’re telling me there was not a single salvageable piece of the ship left for him?” She propped herself up on the bed, gaining a little bit of strength. “Out of that huge boat, there was only one door? I don’t think so!”

“James Cameron seems to think otherwise.”

“No one just sits and waits to die. It’s human nature to fight, to find away—” her voice softened, realizing why he had been goading her. “They find a way to survive against all odds. They don’t just let go.”

His gloved hand caressed her arm and he repeated her words back to her, “they don’t just let go, especially not when they have someone beside them who loves them fighting to keep them afloat.”

Her eyes closed as she rested her head against his chest. She tried to drown out the hospital as she had moments early and let herself feel his warmth and his steady heartbeat, letting them comfort her. “I won’t let go, Ethan.”

“I know you won’t. Try to get some sleep. I’ve got you. Neither of us is going anywhere.”


End file.
